The present invention generally relates to circuit board apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to switching apparatus and associated methods for selectively coupling electrically conductive lead portions of a circuit board.
Electronic devices, such as printed circuit boards, often require a mechanical switch structure to selectively couple and uncouple electrically conductive portions thereof such as a pair of electrically conductive traces on a circuit board. However, in many instances circuit boards lack the requisite surface area or surrounding installation volume to conveniently accommodate conventional mechanical switch structures, such as pin headers and jumper blocks, due to the physical size of these types of switch structures.
A need thus exists in the realm of circuit boards for more compact mechanical switching apparatus. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a circuit board having incorporated therein switching apparatus and associated methods which reduce the switch space requirements in the circuit board.